Deceptive
by Megatron's Blackfire
Summary: She never should have gone, but now she just can't stop returning. She had never thought she'd fall in love with him...


Deceptive

She should not have been there. It was wrong, so very, very wrong. On top of that the others were starting to get suspicious; they knew something was amiss with her and her daily jogs. The only problem was that she didn't want to stop coming; she did not want to ever stop. As strange as it was, she actually felt safe here. She felt protected and shielded from everyone's judging looks and she felt like nothing bad could ever touch her here. Ironic really.

She felt his mouth ghost over hers, drawing her out of her thoughts for the umpteenth time; she must have stopped responding to his touches. She pressed an apologetic kiss to his lips, murmuring that she had been thinking about something. His soft chuckle rang in her ears before he told her she would just end up hurting herself if she kept thinking too much. She smirked as she ran a hand down his arm, relishing in the delight at the ripple of muscle just below his skin. He always made an effort to flex his muscles when she touched him, a signature smirk on his lips with each ripple he caused and the resulting goofy grin she gave.

"You seem distracted, my dear," he stated calmly as his hand trailed over her leg.

"They've started to notice," she murmured.

"They noticed the first day you came back with a welt on your stomach," he chuckled.

"You were the genius that bit me," she snapped defensively; Neil still wouldn't shut up about the fact that the bruise was in the shape of teeth.

He chuckled before he kissed her again, purring into her mouth as she sighed and brought her hand up to stroke his cheek. His hand settled on her thigh and she shivered under his touch, his huge hands both dangerous and possessive as they mapped out the length of leg beneath him. He knew it by heart at this point; four years of secret meetings with only a maximum of three hours each time for weeks on end made memorization that much more powerful. He didn't need to look to know where all of the sensitive areas were and his fingers ghosted teasingly along them to get her to make "cute" noises.

She let out a stuttered gasp of pleasure before she felt his mouth on her throat, his tongue slipping out to tease her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sighed contently into his chest as he kissed her. She loved the feeling of his hands and mouth on her and she often wished that they had more time together. But she knew it was too dangerous to risk any more time than she already had in the past four years. With her teammates growing more and more suspicious, time was not on their side; not anymore anyways.

"You're thinking again," he teased before he nuzzled her cheek. "I'm beginning to detect smoke."

"Oh shut up," she grumbled before punching his bare chest.

Her fist bounced off harmlessly and he did not even flinch at the attack. He smirked down at her as she instead waved her hand around to ward off the pain; punching him was like punching a brick wall. He took her hand gently and brought it to his mouth before he started to kiss her knuckles soothingly. He commented that she should have known better than to attack him after all her years of experience. She grumbled slightly before sighing and playing with the neck of her dress.

She had to admit that she looked amazing in black, but the fact that she was in a dress was shocking enough. She was content with her knee-length shorts and her t-shirt, but he insisted that she changed into the dress whenever they met. He, of course, only ever removed his shirt and left his pants on; not that she was complaining too much. She just wasn't sure if she _had_ to wear it all the time considering she looked fine in her normal clothes. It wasn't like he wasn't attracted to her in her casual clothing either; it must have been some weird fetish of his to have his secret lover wearing something resembling his culture.

"I smell smoke again," he teased as he pushed the back of her hand against his cheek. "Tell me what's on your mind, my dear."

"Everything and anything," she sighed before she watched him lie down beside her and carefully wrap his arm around her waist.

"Care to elaborate?" he asked softly.

"Do you care if I'm willing or not?" she asked in return as she rested her head on his offered arm.

"Maybe," he replied before he nibbled gently on her ear. "All depends on how bad the problem...is."

He lifted his head up and she watched his eyes narrow into red pinpricks. She felt the snarl that curled its way up his body and she immediately shrank against the bed as he started to rise. He rested a hand against her shoulder, silently telling her to remain on the bed. She didn't bother arguing as he rose and grabbed his shirt off the end of the bed and put it on quickly, his eyes narrowed dangerously thin as his whole body seemed to inflate with barely suppressible rage. She could see his weapon of choice already in his hand and immediately started looking around for her clothes; there was no way she was getting caught dead in this dress if someone came in through the door.

She heard him growl something to someone standing right outside the door and she paused to listen. She didn't understand what was being said, the language very incomprehensible, but she picked up enough to know that something bad was happening. He glanced back at her before saying that he would be right back and left through the door. She heard something heavy move beyond the door and she guessed he had put someone on guard duty to stop anyone unwanted from entering the room; namely the others.

She moved quickly off the bed and pulled the dress off over her head, storing in out of sight as she quickly pulled on her pants and shirt. She managed to lace up her shoes tight enough so they wouldn't fall off before she heard a loud crash on the other side of the door. She winced and slipped her crossbow on, wondering who got thrown against the wall. Depending on who walked through the door would depend on her shooting, naturally, but it would also depend on their hostility levels. She was not quite as brash as she use to be and could resist the urge to shoot if she wanted to.

"Atlanta!" she heard a very familiar voice shout as the door to the room was kicked open. "Thank the gods I found you!"

She stood up with a small smile before she accepted the hug from her purple-haired friend. Archie always was a little on the odd side when it came to her. She was aware that he liked her; only a complete idiot would have missed the signs; but she had never seen the point in returning those feelings. It would have been cruel to lead him on when she was in love with _him_. And, as a general rule, she was not a cruel person.

"Where is everyone else?" she asked as she let him go.

"Waiting; we have to move," he replied before grabbing her hand. "That giant will be back on his feet soon and we can't wait around for him to come get us."

She nodded in understanding, thinking up an excuse as to why she was in there to begin with for when Jay asked; he was the most suspicious of the whole group and would probably figure everything out the minute Archie mentioned where he found her. She was just going over the part where she had darted into the room to avoid getting caught by the giant outside when she heard Archie let out a low hiss of rage. She looked up and tensed at the sight of _him_ standing in the doorway, weapon of choice currently being used to pick dirt out from under his nails. She swallowed nervously as Archie pulled out his whip and glared at her lover, his stance alone showing how much he wanted to kill the other man.

"How did you get away?" Archie demanded.

"Your friends are powerful now, Archie," he replied simply before grinning darkly, "but ultimately no match for a Titan."

"What did you do to them?" Archie snarled.

"Calm down, dear Archie," the man laughed before flicking his weapon to the side. "They are still alive...for now. No telling how the gods will take their failure though; have you seen Zeus' rage lately? Such a pity really; I understand he use to be quite an understanding old man."

"You'll pay for that!" Archie snarled before bringing his arm back to attack.

"No, wait!" she shouted before grabbing his arm and pulling him away. "Don't attack; don't you see? That's what he wants you to do. We have to find another way to get out." She dropped her voice to a whisper and looked into his eyes. "You distract him by making a break for the door. I'll shoot him."

Archie stared at her in surprise before glaring at the other man and smirking. The man merely tipped his head to the side before sighing and shaking his head. She gave him a small "what else could I do" look over Archie's shoulder before she aimed her crossbow at him. He gave her a bored expression before yawning widely and blinking at them slowly.

"You really think you stand a chance?" he asked before twisting his scythe up to point at them. "My, my, you have grown valiant in your years."

Archie smirked and sneered at him before making a break for the door. She aimed at her lover, narrowing her eyes as she fired; she hoped he had been listening in when she had explained her plan. He flipped his scythe up to deflect the shot, smirking as he angled it enough to strike Archie in the chest. He howled in pain before he hit the ground and rolled, bringing his whip up to strike only to find a scythe in his face. The blade split a huge line across his face and he hit the ground again and stayed down as he started to bleed across the floor.

Her lover grinned wickedly as he brought his scythe up to slam it into Archie's back and bring the "hero count" down to six. She darted forward and stood in front of him with her arms spread out to stop him from delivering the killing blow. His eyes spoke volumes for the fury that filled him at the sight of her protecting her fallen friend. He glared down at her before she shook her head and placed a hand against his chest.

"Don't," she whispered softly. "Please."

He glared at her before his weapon vanished in a ball of fire and he shook his head. "You owe me," he snapped before he opened a portal under Archie's body and sent him tumbling through space and time. "He'll turn up at that school of yours, just like the rest of your friends."

"Thank you," she sighed before he grabbed her and tilted her face up towards him

"Don't go thanking me just yet, dear Atlanta," he growled before delivering a powerful, knee-weakening kiss to her lips.

She gasped in surprise as she slumped a little in his arms. She wrapped her arms quickly around his neck to stop herself from falling any farther and having to rely on his strength to hold her up before she returned the kiss eagerly. He was her drug, her addiction; she knew he was bad for her health but she just couldn't stop returning to him. He was intoxicating and produced such a rush that she was sure her body was high every time he touched her. She should never have started seeing him in the beginning but now she couldn't stop and didn't care to stop.

She let out a soft moan as his other hand travelled up her back and pressed her closer to his wide chest. Their kisses deepened for several minutes until he pulled back and let out a long, painful sounding sigh, his gaze focusing just a bit behind her. She smiled before sighing and running a hand through her hair, commenting that she had to get back to the school before they realized that something was up. He grumbled that this war had to end one way or another because he was getting sick of the time constraints.

"Visiting hours in Tartarus run a long time?" she teased before he shot her a glare.

"If you were going to win, my dear, you would have done so long ago," he replied coldly.

"And what makes you think you're going to win?" she challenged. "We're destined to defeat you, remember?"

"Seven heroes would defeat me," he replied smoothly before he kissed her cheek and purred into her ear. "Last I checked one of them started to turn to my side, reducing their number to six. You are good at this game of deceit, my dear, I'll give you that."

She smirked before punching his chest again, ignoring the sting just to hear him laugh at her. He swooped down and gave her another kiss before murmuring that she did not look the part of fighting for her life. She replied that she won and he took off like a scaredy-cat before his scythe was running along her arm, slicing her skin open. She yelped in pain before his other scythe bit into her side and tore up to the base of her shoulders. She backed away and glared at him as her blood dripped off the ends of his scythes. The wounds were minor, nothing more than scratches, but they still hurt.

He smirked before opening a portal under her feet and telling her to meet him in the same place next week. She pouted before she landed hard on the ground on the other side of the portal. She glanced up as she heard voices yelling her name and frowned slightly to herself as she sat up clutching her side in fake pain. Maybe she was getting a little too good at this deceiving business.

**Author's note:** So I'm going through the _Class of the Titans_ section of Fanfiction and low-and-behold there isn't a single fic in there that centers around Cronus. Sure, there's one where he's plotting to get the kids onto his side, but really, REALLY, there was nothing. I'm starting to think I'm the only fan that likes Cronus D: It's sad because he's voice acted by David Kaye which ups his awesomeness level by 5 points because he SOUNDS LIKE MEGATRON! Honestly, I wanna see more fics centered around him, not the kids!

Aside from that, this little number walked into my brain while I was reading said stories and kicked me in the butt before demanding to be written. Originally, it was supposed to be Theresa with Cronus, but then I thought that she got too much spotlight to begin with so I turned to Atlanta and said "your turn, sweetie". It's four years after the start of the fighting so she is legal now and Cronus, despite his hatred for humans, is intrigued by her desire to be with him. Do the others know about it? Probably. Do they try to stop it? Probably. Are they successful? Let's just say I have a wonderful mental image of Cronus and Atlanta ruling the world. Or making out in Cronus' jail cell o_O either way, they don't get torn apart. I'm sick and twisted, yes I know, but I like it


End file.
